# Seventy-four year old man gets life for selling drugs **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 8, 2005, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seventy-four-year-old-man-gets-life-for-selling-drugs/302931 "2005-05-08T16:46:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Largo62](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/45deac/32.png) [@Largo62](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Largo62)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2005, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seventy-four-year-old-man-gets-life-for-selling-drugs/302931/1 "2005-05-08T16:46:00Z")
Well, [for someone his age](http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=519&e=3&u=/ap/brf_drugs_sentence) it would probably be life, even with the reduced sentence. Just goes to show that getting old doesn’t necessarily mellow you out or make you smarter. I think the judge should have left the sentence at sixty years. Buyers should be treated. Sellers should go away for ever. What do you think? Am I too Draconian, or is the judge an old softie? ---
**Author:** ![Largo62](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/45deac/32.png) [@Largo62](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Largo62)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2005, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seventy-four-year-old-man-gets-life-for-selling-drugs/302931/2 "2005-05-08T16:48:15Z")
Drat! Make that seventy years. If he served it all it would make a helluva story when he got out, no? 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![Hoodoo\_Ulove](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/58956e/32.png) [@Hoodoo\_Ulove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hoodoo_Ulove)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2005, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seventy-four-year-old-man-gets-life-for-selling-drugs/302931/3 "2005-05-08T16:53:41Z")
> [@DesertGeezer](#): > > Buyers should be treated. Sellers should go away for ever. What do you think? By analogy, whores should get life, johns get counseling. What do you think? ---
**Author:** ![levdrakon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2005, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seventy-four-year-old-man-gets-life-for-selling-drugs/302931/4 "2005-05-08T17:10:16Z")
I don’t think prostitutes represent the same threat to society that someone pushing a potentially lethal drug is. If the prostitute was knowingly spreading a potentially lethal disease, then yes they deserve a more severe sentence. ---
**Author:** ![Largo62](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/45deac/32.png) [@Largo62](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Largo62)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2005, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seventy-four-year-old-man-gets-life-for-selling-drugs/302931/5 "2005-05-08T17:25:32Z")
> [@Hoodoo Ulove](#): > > By analogy, whores should get life, johns get counseling. What do you think? My point was with reference to drugs. Suppliers of drugs do great harm. Users need help, not punishment. Prostitutes mostly harm themselves. In the case of prostitution, I think the Johns should all be exposed in the local paper and the prostitutes helped, if possible. That answer your question? ---
**Author:** ![Hoodoo\_Ulove](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/58956e/32.png) [@Hoodoo\_Ulove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hoodoo_Ulove)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2005, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seventy-four-year-old-man-gets-life-for-selling-drugs/302931/6 "2005-05-08T17:46:48Z")
> [@DesertGeezer](#): > > Suppliers of drugs do great harm. That’s an assertion subject to debate. I’m sure there’s a few old threads on the subject. I, and many others, oppose the “war on drugs” on multiple grounds. ---
**Author:** ![smiling\_bandit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@smiling\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smiling_bandit)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2005, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seventy-four-year-old-man-gets-life-for-selling-drugs/302931/7 "2005-05-08T23:52:44Z")
> [@](#): > > If the prostitute was knowingly spreading a potentially lethal disease, then yes they deserve a more severe sentence. As much as I despise drugs, I’m not generally in favor of the methods by which we currently aim to end their use. Killing the program and spending its budget on edjucation, special programs to convince the public that drugs are disgusting, harmful, and dangerous, etc. would work better. And, finally, a campaign to force everyone to use those drugs in specified places where they can be watched and contained. No records, no one gets out until they’re clean of the effects, use an unmarked cab to transport people. I don’t particularly like pot. Yes, I know it’s not much more dangerous than cigs (albeit in a totally different way) but I really don’t think we ought to encourage its use. I’ve met too many stoners to believe its entirely safe, not until someone proves that they’re empty-headed naturally besides the MJ. I despise drugs. Of course, I have never managed to get drunk (I finally gave up the last time), so it might be personal. I simply can’t drink enough alchy-hol to get buzzed without getting full. But still, I generally object to people putting in chemicals to deliberately screw with their judgement. Cigs don’t do that, although apparently they do slightly calm people down. ---
**Author:** ![CynicalGabe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3e96dc/32.png) [@CynicalGabe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CynicalGabe)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2005, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seventy-four-year-old-man-gets-life-for-selling-drugs/302931/8 "2005-05-09T01:19:35Z")
I think he should serve out the sixty years and then go free, just to stick it to the man. ---
**Author:** ![jimpatro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b9e5f3/32.png) [@jimpatro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jimpatro)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2005, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seventy-four-year-old-man-gets-life-for-selling-drugs/302931/9 "2005-05-09T01:46:26Z")
Bottom line, it’s against the law, send him to jail. Don’t wanna go to jail? Don’t break the law. ---
**Author:** ![chique](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4491bb/32.png) [@chique](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chique)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2005, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seventy-four-year-old-man-gets-life-for-selling-drugs/302931/10 "2005-05-09T15:00:18Z")
I think I may have come across a plan to finance my retirement. ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2005, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seventy-four-year-old-man-gets-life-for-selling-drugs/302931/11 "2005-05-09T15:02:59Z")
> [@jimpatro](#): > > Bottom line, it’s against the law, send him to jail. Don’t wanna go to jail? Don’t break the law. Yeah…that’s what they told Rosa Parks. ---
**Author:** ![levdrakon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2005, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seventy-four-year-old-man-gets-life-for-selling-drugs/302931/12 "2005-05-09T20:14:08Z")
> [@smiling bandit](#): > > As much as I despise drugs, I’m not generally in favor of the methods by which we currently aim to end their use. I’m against the current “War on Drugs.” But for me, there’s a big difference between a 70-year-old man growing pot in his backyard, baking up some brownies and selling them to his friends to supplement his retirement, and a 70-year-old pharmacist selling a very dangerous drug that he knows damn well is dangerous. What this guy was doing was morally wrong. I don’t care so much about whether it was legal or illegal, it was just plain wrong, and he knew better. He was also busted once before for this, so I don’t think getting sent to prison for the rest of his life is too harsh. ---
**Author:** ![Indygrrl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/58f4c7/32.png) [@Indygrrl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indygrrl)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2005, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seventy-four-year-old-man-gets-life-for-selling-drugs/302931/13 "2005-05-09T22:32:05Z")
If he’s a pharmacist, that’s really messed up. If he’s an old man with cancer who sells a few Oxycontin so he can eat, that’s completely different. I’m not familiar with what pharmacists have to agree to in order to do the job, but I imagine something similar to the Hippocratic Oath. A violation of that is unacceptable. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2005, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seventy-four-year-old-man-gets-life-for-selling-drugs/302931/14 "2005-05-10T01:35:56Z")
> [@DesertGeezer](#): > > My point was with reference to drugs. Suppliers of drugs do great harm. Users need help, not punishment. Prostitutes mostly harm themselves. In the case of prostitution, I think the Johns should all be exposed in the local paper and the prostitutes helped, if possible. That answer your question? What do you do in the cases where the sellers are also users? Many users end up selling to support their habit. ---
**Author:** ![Largo62](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/45deac/32.png) [@Largo62](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Largo62)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2005, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seventy-four-year-old-man-gets-life-for-selling-drugs/302931/15 "2005-05-10T03:51:14Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > What do you do in the cases where the sellers are also users? Many users end up selling to support their habit. If the user commits a robbery to support his habit he still goes down for robbery, doesn’t he?. If the user is also a seller, he should pay for the crime of selling. My thought before was that addiction that is hurting oneself should be treated, not punished, but crime against others should be punished. I understand your point, but we don’t let someone off for other crimes because he committed them while drunk. I don’t think we should let someone off for dealing because he did it while high on crack.